DIY - Craft #2

Noelle's name is taking up an entire wall so I didn't want Natalie to be left out in her new shared room with no name. We had gotten her very precious letters for her baby room but they are light pink toile and don't go at all in the new room.

They were really pricey though so I was hoping to find a cheaper alternative. I came across some wood letters at Michael's for $.60 and found some fun scrapbook paper. I re-purposed some frames I already had and this is how it came out. Super cheap and goes perfect in the new room.

:)

PINTEREST

I finally decided to join in the Pinterest fun. Both of these things that I attempted were actually things I found on my own and put on my pinterest boards as something I wanted to do. And I did them!


The first are these cute little pancakes. We love making pancakes on the weekends and this made them a little extra special with bacon for a scarf, chocolate chips for buttons and mini marshmallows as snow. We made them in Big Bear on our snow trip.


Our favorite pancake mix is this one:

It's got some great ingredients and is dairy free for Noelle. Vanilla soy milk tastes great with it.


And today I accomplished 3 crafts.
I see other people post on facebook about crafting and that is so not me. I don't have a lot of patience for crafts. But I am wanting to get the girl's rooms set up before baby comes and had a couple ideas. Initially I wanted to completely redo the room that the girls are going to share but Ryan convinced me to reuse what we already have and so I just needed some finishing touches. Was hoping by doing them myself I'd find cheaper alternatives and I did.

I took a picture of one of the crafts that I completed. It's a headband holder. I found a very simple tutorial on youtube, posted it to pinterest and today found the time to make it. It was so simple and the girls helped. Adds a little fun color to their room and holds their headbands.

I'll take some pictures of the other two crafts tomorrow after they're completed.

Napa

December 26th we set off for a week in Napa with Grandma Julie and Pops (Tom). We didn't really account for the post holiday traffic and it took us about 11 hours to get there (and multiple stops along the way). But it was so worth it. We had an incredible week.

The girls settled right in and love the special time with Grandma and time with Quincy, their dog.
We had a relaxing weekend, with some good food and great company.

We love their house in Napa and this view of the sunrise each morning from their balcony is so incredible.

It was so good for us to slow down and have some family time away from the house. Ryan has been so busy at work, I was especially thankful for him to have this time.


Then as an added bonus, Ryan and I got to head off on our own to celebrate our anniversary. We went to the little bay town of Tiburon and had a wonderful quiet evening. The next day we hopped on the ferry and met some dear friends in San Francisco for lunch! I was too lazy to bring the camera :(. Loved seeing you Scott and Annie!


Thanks Grandma Julie and Tom for such an incredible week!

Christmas 2012

Christmas morning. The girls are so easy to please with gifts at these ages and so excited for the magic of Christmas morning. We had a nice relaxing morning.
I love these pictures of the girls! They got little chocolates in their stockings and the evidence is all over there face. And Noelle's Christmas request was make-up, so note the glitter eye shadow on both of them. So lovely.

And there's Ryan in the background with his new beanie, beginning to tidy up :).
Grandma got Noelle a magic set for Christmas. So she and Ryan went into the living room and prepared a show for us. Ryan had a magic set when he was a kid and this opportunity definitely brought out the kid in him.
But it was Noelle that was really glowing with the opportunity to perform and wow the audience. She had her assistant Natalie and was super into the whole thing. I think she has her mom's love of performing and definitely her daddy's appreciation for magic.

Family Pictures

I am beyond thankful that we decided to take family pictures this year and to have our friend Shara take them. In the past, I've always felt like you find the one good one out of the pictures you get taken or at least one or two that will suffice. So not the case with this photo shoot. We loved so many of them.
And I'm so glad that we got them taken before my belly was this size :). It's so much cuter before 8 months.
You can check out Shara at: http://www.bachmanvillephotography.blogspot.com/

Christmas Carol - Noelle Style

Noelle made this up all on her own. It comes from that wonderful little brain of hers and she has her sweet sister to back her up. I was loving every second of this. Best Christmas present she could give me. Hope you enjoy it too!!!!

O Holy Night

I have always dearly loved these lyrics. I hear this song and I pause and experience Christmas afresh. It is far too easy to accept a commercialized adaptation of Christmas or to experience Christianity as the people or establishments that you have experienced.

There is nothing ordinary and nothing trite about God becoming a baby and in coming, offering Himself in the fulness of love and sacrifice.

Don't we all have weary souls that long to know the depths of love? The depths of this reality exceed a manger scene and every "good Christian's" attempts to adequately reflect Christ. The God that spoke the heavens and stars into being, came near. He came near to embrace His broken people. Draw near in return; Christ our Redeemer has come. Freedom He brings.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our friend!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine

Our Anniversary Tour of California

Today is our 9 year anniversary.

Every year we have gone somewhere in California to celebrate. We almost didn't "go" somewhere specific this year and now that I've done all this reflecting, I'm so glad that we've set aside time once again to spend our anniversary. Excited to check out the little Bay town of Tiburon after Christmas.

This post is really more for the sake of documenting memories than anything else. Seems every year we stop and try and remember where all we've been as we decide what that year's destination will be. There are so many places that we'd love to go if it were summer but a December anniversary always has cold to factor in. Except last year in LA, we could've brought bathing suits, it was 80!


1 year: FISH CAMPWe are such babies in these pictures. I wish you could see them closer up. It's so wild. We stayed at this cute little place just outside of Yosemite. Ryan surprised me by picking the place and arranging the details. And that's been the tradition ever since... Oh wait, that was still back in the honeymoon phase. Not so many surprises anymore :). But honestly, the way that I know Ryan's love is so deep and constant for me, leaves little room for me to desire anything more.



Every year we pick out an ornament to represent the place that we visited on our anniversary. There have been several years that this task becomes a thorn in our side but we do enjoy pulling them out every year and thinking about our trips and what they represent. Monterey may or may not be salvageable for next year and who knows how many others we will lose in the years to come. So, I took a picture of each one so that we can at least have this for memory sake. And a note to self: Buy more durable ornaments, not pretty sand dollars.



2 year: MONTEREY
Ryan looks really thrilled in this one!
We did have a great time in Monterey. One memory I will never forget - lol.




3 year: SANTA BARBARA
I have my hand on my pregnant belly, which felt very large to me. In the mix of these pictures is one of me showing my belly that is non-existent. Now, this year, there is definitely a belly in the mix!
I was so excited to be pregnant though.


4 year: LAGUNA BEACH
Noelle was 9 months old and not a huge fan of being away from Mommy. So, our first anniversary as parents was spent in the desirable destination spot of Laguna Beach, that is fortunately only 10 minutes away.




5 year: BIG BEAR
Another pregnant anniversary. Fun to be in the snow. Not as fun to be sick and pregnant but we did have the most incredible meal at the Bed and Breakfast here. One of my all time favs. Poor Ryan kept thinking of fun things to do and I could not do any of them. But I could eat, so that becomes the focus.




6 year: DEL MAR
We have no pictures of Del Mar. We had an incredible time, took our bikes and got a great hotel deal and then upgrade. We took no pictures and I don't think we even cared too. We were just so happy to be on our own, the reason... see above. Now I look at them and I just melt at their sweetness but if you've been there you know how welcomed a break is.

Ryan had an idea in Del Mar that created a really great time for us. He had us pick up 6 rocks, and then we went back and reflected on the six years and what God had done, what we went through and how we grew. We still have the rocks in our bedroom. And we always make it a point to try and take a time-out and reflect on what happened over the last year. It has been such an important piece of our trips.

7 year: NAPA

Ryan's mom has lived in Napa for years but we've never done the whole Napa experience. I've either been pregnant or nursing, which makes it not seems so fun. This year was the perfect chance. Even though I was way more interested in the breads and olive oil dips at one winery than any of the wines. Ryan was on his way to becoming a connoisseur though. He loves getting all the info.



8 year: LOS ANGELES
We thought LA would be a fun place to go, since we live an hour away but never actually spend anytime there, except for quick airport stops. The highlights were an improv and then visiting the Getty Museum the next day.

9 year:TIBURON
Our next stop...